


One Week[DISCONTINUED]

by The_Sa1tiest_CarameL



Series: CarameL's procrastination pieces [3]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angry TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Angst, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Author is a Clay | Dream Apologist (Video Blogging RPF), Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Blood and Torture, Blood and Violence, Clay | Dream Needs a Hug (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt, Hurt Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Torture, Lol I'm sorry that i couldn't finish this, Mentioned Cara | CaptainPuffy, Mentioned Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Pain, Pandora's Vault, Protective Sam | Awesamdude, Protective TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Sad Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Sad TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Suffering, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, TommyInnit-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Torture, Touch-Starved Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Warden Sam | Awesamdude, and had no idea how to make it a good story, i didn't wanna ruin it, lotsa pain and sadness and misunderstandings, someone give my boi a hug, yeehaw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:29:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29739468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Sa1tiest_CarameL/pseuds/The_Sa1tiest_CarameL
Summary: Basically me jumping onto the train of Tommy spending a certain amount of days in Pandora's Vault with Sad boi Dream[as of March 17 this book has been discontinued, I'm so sorry for the inconvenience but I just didn't have the mental capacity to keep it going ;^;]
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sam | Awesamdude, Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF) & Everyone, Sam | Awesamdude & TommyInnit, TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF) & Everyone
Series: CarameL's procrastination pieces [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2163213
Comments: 32
Kudos: 513





	1. Day One: I Failed You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Important things to know:
> 
> In this specific fic, Dream hasn't been in control of his body ever since the election arc(haha Dreamon theory👀👀) and has not consented to anything that the Dreamon has done while controlling him. When Dream was thrown into prison, the Dreamon had no more use for Dream other than occasionally stopping by and tormenting him before finding a comfort residence in a certain egg :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Welcome to the story! 
> 
> I'm going to be taking a break from my main fic and start focusing on the ideas for mini-fics and oneshots I have. I hope that's okay– 👉👈
> 
> This is the part where I tell you that my update schedule *will* go to shiot and that We Were Your Home updates will most likely come later, as my head is so scrambled that it would put eggs to shame.
> 
> Anywho, enjoy whatever the hyuck this this

**_Day One_ **

**__________________________________________________________**

"SAM!! SAM, OPEN THE CURTAIN–"

"It's not gonna work, Tommy-"

"Shut up before I hurl you into the lava."

"..."

Tommy turned away from Dream's curled form after he snapped at him and continued to yell at the top of his lungs, demanding to be let out.

All he wanted to do was visit once and only to ask for information on their rapidly growing egg problem back at the SMP, but no– Sam's security mechanism had to get f*cked up right as he was about to leave. Of f*cking course.

Now, he was trapped in an obsidian box with the literal worst person on the entire server. Great. 

Tommy glared at Dream, who was looking down at the ground, as if the whole situation was his fault. As if, somehow, this was all part of some complicated plan to kill him or make him go insane. He didn't doubt any of those possibilities, either. I mean, this is Dream we're talking about. He's practically known for that kind of stuff.

~~_Tommy forgets that there was a time that Dream wasn't known for the terror and destruction that he brought. A time when he was known for his compassion and generosity, a time when love and mercy for his friends was his most prominent trait. A time when they were all as close as family, and acted like it too._ ~~

"Why're you so quiet? I thought that you'd be yelling at me about your revenge or how much you hate me right about now." Tommy said bitterly, eyes narrowed as Dream tensed in his spot in the corner of the cell.

_"I'd never do that..."_

"What'd you say?"

"I said it's not worth it."

Tommy growled and stomped over to Dream's slumped form, gripping his jumper by the collar and forcing him to look the teen in the eyes. When he did so, Tommy's expression faltered slightly, hands loosening his grip on the fabric as he stared wide-eyed at Dream's face.

There were cuts and bruises littered all around his skin, some still oozing fresh blood. One large slash ran from the bottom of his chin all the way up to his eyebrow, cutting directly through his right eye and leaving it a milky white color.

Tommy quickly composed himself again and let a satisfied smirk spread across his face, aqua eyes gleaming at the fact that Dream was half blind.

"Pff, what'd you do to get that? Sam had to put you in your place?"

_"My Dreamon cut me..."_

"What?"

"I said yeah, that's– that's what happened."

Tommy felt a strange sensation curl in his gut, lacing it with a queasiness that he couldn't swallow down. He brushed the nausea off, chalking it up to be just the stench of ash and blood ~~ _(blood?)_~~ that filled the cell.

"Course it is. I'd expect nothing less from someone like you, still trying to feel like you have power over someone, still trying to feel in control. Well guess what, Dream? You're not in control anymore. You can't control me, or Tubbo, or Ranboo, or anyone on the SMP, ever again. You're pathetic, and evil, and sick. Looking at you now, I realize just how sad and weak you actually are. Without us as your little puppets, without that feeling of superiority, you're nothing, Dream. _Nothing."_

Tommy expected him to lash out, to scream that he'd get them all back one day, that he'd get his revenge and kill them all and have them beg for mercy only to get decapitated by his trusty axe, but that didn't happen. Instead, Dream just closed his eyes and nodded numbly, not even holding up his own weight anymore. 

Tommy scoffed at Dream's unresponsive state, dropping his hold on Dream's collar and rolling his eyes as the admin fell to the cold obsidian floor, a loud _thump_ echoing through the room as his head smacked into the ground.

"Whatever. You can't do anything to me and I'm going to be out of here soon. You stay on your side of the cell while I stay on mine, got it?"

Dream looked up at him with an emotionless expression, eyes betraying nothing as he simply nodded his head and curled back up again.

***

It proved very hard to hold himself back as Tommy laid down on the other side of the cell, back faced towards him. Dream wanted nothing more than to launch himself into the younger's arms and explain everything that had happened to him, to beg for forgiveness for everything that the Dreamon had done to them, to insist and confirm to someone, _anyone,_ that he didn't do all the horrible things that they said he did. 

But Dream couldn't do that. He knew he couldn't do that. The Dreamon had hurt and betrayed all of his friends _(?)_ so much that none of them would believe him if he tried to explain, much less Tommy.

Tommy, who was dragged into a war and didn't come out the same.

Tommy, who had to watch as his brother Wilbur slowly drifted away from him, spiraling into insanity until it was too late.

Tommy, who had to watch as his best friend was blown to bits, taking away one of his cannon lives.

Tommy, who was forced to be alone in exile with someone that he used to trust with his life.

Tommy, who was the person to take two of Dream's lives away back to back, one of the people cheering when he was thrown into Pandora's Vault.

Yeah, there was no way he'd be doing any convincing any time soon.

So, instead of pouring his heart out to Tommy and taking a shot at the one chance of freedom he has _ ~~(which was stupid, Dream knew that he'd be stuck in the prison forever, he learned to accept that)~~_ , Dream just settled for making sure that Tommy was as comfortable as one could get in an obsidian box. He estimated that Tommy would be stuck with him for about a week, if he was correct on how long it took Sam to fix the security mechanisms the first time something malfunctioned when Pandora's Vault was still under construction.

_(Dream remembers how he had been screaming from the inside of his head as ~~Đřəåm~~ commissioned the prison. How he fought so, so hard to regain control as he watched in horror when Sam agreed, albeit with a gleam of regret in his eyes. It hurt him to see that pretty much everyone had been so scared to tell him no, to put their foot down for a change and deny the Dreamon's ~~demands~~ requests.)_

First, Dream took note of how hard the floor was and how Tommy would probably get cramps or even bruises pretty quickly. So, Dream fetched some of the books he'd written in _ ~~(books with countless apologies in them, explaining everything was that had happened to him ever since Shlatt took over and how sorry he was that he couldn't take back control before it was too late.)~~_ and showed them together with some loose string from his jumper and his prized shard of obsidian that he'd obtained.

_(By 'obtained', Dream actually meant that the shard had just barely chipped off after weeks and weeks of slamming his fists into the walls, just to feel something other than the tingly numbness in his limbs that threatened to swallow him whole. Dream's knuckles had been abused so much that it got to the point where he didn't even register the searing pain whenever he hit the walls. He didn't even register the fact that his knuckles were do bloody and broken that they were a dark purple. Ever since then, the shard had been Dream's most prized possession; yet he didn't know exactly why he was so attached to it.)_

It took a while, but after lots of trial and error ~~ _(and getting sidetracked when accidentally cut himself with the shard once, spending another 10 minutes just stabbing and slicing his skin as he watched the blood trickle down his limbs with dulled, lifeless eyes)_~~ , Dream finally finished the paper mat that he'd made for Tommy. He didn't worry about all the apologies scribbled on the thick paper, as it was too dark to see then anyways and the writing was ineligible on more than half of them.

Putting the shard away, Dream quietly slinked over to Tommy's side of the cell, placing the makeshift bed right in front of him before scurrying back to his little corner, putting his knees up to his chest and closing his eyes.

***

Tommy woke up to the sound of a mechanical whirr going off in the distance. His eyes shot open, hoping beyond hope that Sam had fixed or was at least close to fixing the security issues, but no. It was just the food shute.

Dream's head snapped up from his place in the far corner of the room, eyes wild with alertness as his breathe came out in fast huffs.

_'Did he have a nightmare or something? Wait, why do I care? Whatever he had a nightmare about, he deserved it. Yeah.'_

After settling down, Dream dragged himself up on his feet and staggered over to the potato shute, gathering up it's contents. When he turned to look at Tommy, the younger expected for him to have a stoic or even angry look on his face, but was caught completely off guard when Dream gazed at him with a wide, childish grin.

_~~(A grin that, no matter how wide he smiled, did not reach all the way to his eyes. Those eyes, once filled with life and color, now only held an emptiness and dullness that unnerved Tommy to no end. He couldn't help but wonder just what had happened to Dream while locked inside Pandora's Vault.)~~ _

"Food's here! Good thing that the shute still works, wouldn't want you to starve..."

"Yeah, and what about you? Can't handle prison food?"

_"I don't deserve to eat..."_

"What?"

"I said it smells like feet."

Tommy's eyebrows shot up at that, a questioning look forming on his face. Dream just waved a hand at him and trotted over to the teen's spot in the cell, giving him all the potatoes in his arms.

Tommy grabbed one and bit into it, making a face at the bitter, hard texture. Was this what Dream had been eating every single day?

~~_(No, because whenever the food came down from the shute Dream would normally chuck most of it into the lava, convinced that he didn't deserve it. He let everyone down when he wasn't strong enough to break free from Đřəåm, he did this to himself. He only ate when Sam caught him throwing the potatoes in the lava and went down there to force him to eat. Those were not good days.)_ ~~

"What do you even do in here all day? Just stare at the ceiling and contemplate the horrible things you've done?" Tommy snorted.

"Well..."

_(Dream was numb. He couldn't feel anything, couldn't see anything, couldn't taste anything. He hated it. It reminded him of the day he woke up only to realize that his body had been taken over. He had no control when it came to actions and decisions and all he could do was just sit and watch in horror as Đřəåm tore apart every single friendship he had ever formed on the SMP. He hated this feeling, he hated **not feeling.** He needed it to go away away a **way go away I can't take this–**_

_Mustering enough strength to slam his provided clock into the floor, Dream scrambled over and shoved a small shard into his abdomen, pushing it in so hard that the small sliver of glass was soon buried in his skin. Whenever he twitched slightly or rotated his position on the floor, a sharp stabbing pain shot through his muscles and forced a strangled gasp from his lips._

_Perfect.)_

"...yeah, pretty much. Sometimes I do other things to entertain myself, like _~~diving into the lava over and over just to feel sane, just to feel **alive**~~_ staring at the lava bubbles or _~~sticking my head in the cauldron just to feel the sensation of water filling my lungs, the temporary release of death it gives me~~_ swirling my fingers around the water, making little patterns. It's not too bad."

_(Dream left out the part about how he'd entertain himself through pure fear, waking up most days ~~nights?~~ in a cold sweat, proceeding to stare out into the nothingness of his head for hours on end, waiting for something to attack him or for Đřəåm to appear and torment him once more.)_

"Whatever you say, di€khead."

After finishing his awful excuse for a 'meal', Tommy shuffled back into a laying position, taking notice of the paper mat that had been made for him. He stared at it warily, eyes flickering over to where Dream had returned to his balled up position in his corner of the cell, arms covering most of his bronze hair.

Tommy inconspicuously slipped the mat under him and laid down on it, mentally sighing at the slight relief from the hard obsidian floor. Dream made this for him? Why? Does he actually–

_'No, don't fall for it Tommy. I've seen this before, lived through it before. Dream's just trying to get me to warm up to him. It's- it's not gonna work this time.'_

Tommy groaned silently as he stared up at the ceiling, finding a sudden interest in the many crevices and indents that the dark substance had running all throughout each block.

Feeling his eyes droop slightly, Tommy relaxed on his paper mat and fell into a restless sleep, dreaming of the bright morning sun and the grass beneath his toes.

***

Dream stared at Tommy's sleeping form for a couple more minutes, eye darting around the room, as if looking for something _~~or someone~~_.

When the coast was deemed clear and he was sure that Tommy wouldn't jolt awake, Dream snatched his obsidian shard and tore it through his shoulder, watching with sick fascination as shiny crimson liquid flowed out of the wound, akin to a waterfall.

He had some sense of self control though, hiding his shard again and leaning backwards, eyes trained on the dark ceiling.

Dream thought back to when he first realized that Tommy would be stuck in prison with him. The jolt of panic that spiked through his veins when he realized all the complications that this could add. First of all, not matter how many times Đřəåm had said it, Dream did _not_ want Tommy to ever, ever be forced into Pandora's Vault. Never.

That's why when he was thrown in prison and Đřəåm had left, the admin felt such a hopeless sense of _relief._ Đřəåm's plan had been halted when he was thrown into prison, and everyone could finally breathe. It was everything that Dream had ever wanted for his friends. And if he had to pay the price for their freedom? Then so be it.

But now all that was crumbling around him. All the days where Dream would smile knowing that everyone would always be happy was gone. It wasn't until Tommy had been locked in Pandora's Vault with him when he realized that the SMP members' peace wasn't so easily obtained. Dream was still _here._ The threat, the tyrant, the backstabber, _was still on the server._ He knew that as long as he stayed alive and breathing, nothing would go back quite to the way it was. People would still gaze a the prison in distaste, remembering bitterly of the one inmate it held. They'd still be plagued with terrors of a porcelain mask stabbing them in the night, leaving them to bleed out in their own homes.

As long as Dream was still alive, his friends would still live in fear.

Dream had thought he'd succeeded. Dream thought that everyone's problems were solved, now that he had been locked away. 

Dream was wrong.

wrong

_wrong_

**_wrong_ **

Letting tears cascade freely down his cheeks, Dream struggled to stifle a broken sob as his shoulders shook with emotion.

A bitter, sour glare appeared on his distraught face, eyes narrowing as Dream silently cursed himself for not allowing Tommy to just kill him that night, one last time. 

Nothing had been solved. 

Nothing was back to normal.

Dream failed them. He failed the SMP.

The admin let his eyes flicker to Tommy's corner of the cell, hearing soft snores float from the teen's lips. Dream had to steel himself and grip his bronze locks tightly as he let more and more tears rush down his face, squeezing his eyes shut as he just tried to lighten the weight of utter failure that was crushing his shoulders.

Dream glanced over at Tommy for just a moment and whispered:

_"I failed you."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hA, ME???? SUCCUMBING TO THE PRESSURE OF JUST LIFE IN GENERAL AND IN TURN HAVING MY SCHEDULE GO TO SHIOT??? MORE LIKELY THAN YOU THINK–


	2. Day Two: Reflection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> reflections, physically and mentally, show you things about yourself that you may have never wanted to adress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter twooooooo babeyyyyy

**_Day two_ **

**___________________________________________________________ **

_Dream couldn't breathe. He was trapped in his corner, immobile as Đřəåm inched closer to him, a sick and twisted grin etched on it's features. The black shadows the creature was made of seemed to spread all around the room, encasing the terrified admin in everlasting darkness._

_The thumping of his heart in his chest became unbearable as Đřəåm got ever closer, stretching out a very long and clawed finger at him, a call; a beckoning._

_Dream let a terrified whimper erupt from his throat, scurrying as far back into the wall as he could go. Đřəåm just smiled amusedly at him, mouth curled up and fangs bared in a horrific, toothy smile._

_As soon as Đřəåm opened it's mouth, Dream squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears with his hands, the palms pressing harshly and uncomfortably into the sides of his head as he tried to block out the disgusting sound of Đřəåm's voice. The ringing in Dream's ears seemed to rattle his skull as he curled in on himself even more, muscles tight with dread and tears dripping down his cheeks as he waited for the painful sensation of Đřəåm digging into his conscious once more._

.

.

.

"...ream, DREAM!"

Dream jolted at the shout of his name right beside his sensitive ears, flinching violently and shooting upright as his eyes were blown wide open. Đřəåm was back. It was back and Tommy was in the cell now and he'd hurt him it'd hurt Tommy and it would be **all his fault–**

"Dude, what the f*ck was _that?"_

Dream's eyes snapped over to see the slightly concerned _~~why was he concerned?~~_ but more freaked out face of Tommyinnit, Dreamon nowhere in sight.

_'ok, it's ok, you're ok, Tommy's ok, Đřəåm isn't here, he's not gonna use me–'_

"Hellooo???? Dream???"

Dream's eyes refocused back onto Tommy's face, eyes dulling at the teen's now annoyed expression. He was probably miserable here, and he was the reason why.

"N-nothing. It was nothing."

"That didn't look like nothing, Dream. You were– you were gaspin' and cryin' and all that sh*t."

"Why do you care?"

At that, Tommy's expression hardened and he jerked his hand away from the admin's shoulder ~~_('when did he put his shoulder there?')_~~ as he glared at the older and straightened up abruptly, turning to stomp back over to his side of the cell.

"I don't– I don't care! You were just spazzin' out over there and it was giving me the creeps! I don't care!"

_"That's what I thought..."_

"What?"

"I didn't say anything." 

Tommy eyed Dream suspiciously before letting his eyes wander back to his side of the cell and walking to sit on the floor again. Tommy glanced up at Dream from his crisscrossed position on the ground and scowled when the admin gave him a small wave, rotating himself so that he wasn't facing Dream and was instead gazing at the bubbling lava.

Dream sighed dejectedly at Tommy's unwillingness to even face him, trotting over to his small cauldron of water and cupping some in his face before sipping it and then staring at his rippling reflection.

There were cuts and scrapes and bruises littered on every inch of his soft face, some faded and discolored while others were jagged and infected an angry red, puffed up with dried skin crusting over as a weak attempt to heal them at the edges.

Dream had never been very.... _fond_ of the way he looked. He felt that it reflected who he would grow up to be. As a child he was an easy target for people older and much more powerful than him. Bad people, with bad intentions.

In a childhood that he had completely disconnected from the rest of his life, leaving all memories of it behind to be swept away in time, Dream faced abuse and hardship because he was simply too open. Too delicate. Too expressive. Too emotional. With features like his, Dream was often waved off and never taken seriously, unremarkable yet unmistakable in many ways. 

When given a chance to start over, a chance to be more than the naive child others saw him as, Dream had taken it without hesitation. He donned the iconic smiley face mask and erased all links to his pathetic childhood, leaving all of his past life behind. Soon, the mask became a part of Dream, a piece of himself as a person. His identity. 

Cuts accumulated and were concealed by that mask. Movements of the eyes and lips were hidden, never allowing any of his opponents any sort of emotional leverage in a battle. Tears that trickled down pale, rounded cheeks were unseen as he wept on the nights when Đřəåm just wouldn't leave him alone, days when he was forced to do things that would forever damage the life he had made for himself.

Looking at his torn, broken, defeated reflection in the cool water of his small cauldron, Dream knew that the Dreamon had won. Đřəåm had successfully ruined his entire life and torn away everything that he had ever loved and cherished, ripped it all to shreds right before his very eyes. Dream would be forever shattered, forever torn, the countless remnants of violent rips and gashes reduced to spirals of discoloration flowing across his whole body like silk ribbons in the hands of a dancer.

_'How pathetic...'_ Dream thought to himself bitterly, how after all his hard work in creating a world bigger and more endearing to him than anything else in his life, some parasitic @$$hole just takes over his mind and wrecks every relationship, every memory that Dream had toiled long and hard to obtain. 

Staring at the ripples in his little cauldron, Dream wonders if he was always destined to fail. He wonders if the warm, happy home he had built for himself and his family was always meant to crumble, to crack under the weight of his childish fantasies and ambitions.

The more Dream dwells on it, the more he thinks his sentiments are right.

***

Tommy glared at the sizzling, bubbly lava just in front of him as he got lost in his head.

Before everything had went to sh*t, and even a bit before the election; when he and Dream had reconciled and agreed to stay on peaceful terms, they ended up having fun together. 

Dream would offer to help teach Tommy how to fight better with a few sparring matches, and the brash teen would always immediately accept, boasting about how he would soon surpass him and Techno. Dream would always make a playful scoffing sound before sidestepping Tommy's _always very well timed_ lunges and quickly pinning him to the floor. 

Tommy would let heat rise to his face as he muttered the words _'show off...'_ and then take the hand that Dream had offered to him, getting pulled up with a forceful 'oof'.

Tommy let his lips curl up at the memory, almost turning around and smiling behind him at Dream. He stopped himself abruptly, mood souring as he remembered one key thing.

Dream wasn't like that anymore.

No, he wasn't. Now, after the election, after the festival, after the destruction of L'manburg, after getting exiled, Dream wasn't the genuine, happy and snarky friend he used to be. 

It had started with the distance.

When he and Wilbur had gotten exiled from their own country, forced to make a base in a small ravine, Dream had maybe visited them once or twice before disappearing for weeks on end, when he was _(supposedly)_ on their side. 

Then Tommy catches the admin giving a crazed and emotionally unstable Wilbur TNT, promising to aid in blowing up L'manburg.

Wilbur was never the same after that _(and even more so after he lost his last life)_ , and it was all Dream's fault ~~ _(?)_~~.

Soon, things got out of hand. Houses were destroyed and with Techno and Phil by his side, Dream had succeeded in finishing what Wilbur had started. L'manburg was utterly devastated, and Tubbo was unwillingly thrust into the spotlight; left to carry the weight of the ruins of an entire country on his shoulders.

Next thing he knew, Tommy was being exiled by his best friend and left alone in the wilderness with his worst enemy. 

Dream had 'kept him company' for months, burning what little items Tommy had gathered and snuffing out any progress he may have made to get stronger. 

_~~Too saddened and defeated by the loss of his stuff, Tommy always failed to notice the hesitation woven throughout Dream's form whenever he destroyed the younger's things. Tommy always failed to notice the shivers or chills that coursed through the admin like electricity, as if trying to keep something (or someone) at bay.~~ _

As Tommy stares at the lava that sizzles and pops in front of his eyes, he's reminded of the day he almost ended his entire existence. The day he almost took his last life.

He shivers at the memory of the warm and fuzzy feeling that was coursing through his veins, the way his mind twisted the burning heat of the nether into a warm and _safe_ blanket of comfort. Tommy remembers the way his legs shook and bounced on anticipation, just waiting for the moment when he'd choose to jump straight into the thick ocean of orange and red.

And right as he was about to do it, right as he's about to just let go and _die,_ a hand is placed on his shoulder. It's shaky, and he feels the vibrations of anxiety thrumming and pulsing straight through the skin. To Tommy's immediate shock and surprise, it was Dream that is holding his shoulder. It was Dream that held him from the fiery death he so desperately wanted.

Dream tells him six simple words. Six words that, for some reason, are enough to yank him away from the lava and get him to stumble back into the nether portal. Six words that somehow held more emotion in them than any story he's ever read, or any speech he's ever beheld.

_"...It's not your time to die."_

Tommy remembers those six words so cleary, and to this day wonders why they were able to so easily covey a sense of worry, a sense of concern, a sense of anxiety, a sense of _fear._

_._

_._

_._

_Dream felt his heart hammering inside his chest as he immediately spotted Tommy standing on the edge of a dropoff outside the nether portal. Why was he here? Why was he so dangerously close to falling off the edge? Why wasn't he safe with Techno or Phil, or people who could actually help him?_

**_'Ah. Looks like we came just in time for a show.'_ **

_Dream felt his gut twist at Đřəåm's words. It did this. It was the one who drove L'manburg and the SMP into the ground. It was the one who made everyone Dream had ever cared about turn on him. Now, it was gonna be the one to simply sit by and watch as someone Dream had once considered a brother plummeted into the scorching lava below them of his own accord._

_As Tommy staggered ever closer to the edge of the dropoff, Dream felt his anxiety spike again and attempted to rush towards the younger, only to stay firmly rooted in place. The empty look in Tommy's eyes conveyed only the worst, and Drean knew that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't at least **try** to save him._

_'Listen– please, just– just let me help him. Just this once. Tommy still has so much to live for, even if he doesn't think so. There are still people who love and cherish and **want** Tommy. Please, I'll let you do whatever you want to me when we're alone– just let me save him. He doesn't deserve this.'_

_Dream hated the long pause of his Dreamon after his bold and quite frankly stupid statement. He hated the fact that he had just thrown himself at the mercy of Đřəåm, allowing his usually strong and resilient persona to bend and crack under Đřəåm's hands. He hated the fact that the Dreamon actually pretended to hesitate, as if it would ever even consider turning down such a satisfying and rewarding prize. As if it would ever turn down the chance to break the most powerful person on the server._

**_'Heh. Very well. You can save the boy, I'll leave you for this time. But if you are not in your house by the time I get there, I'll make sure Tommy doesn't wake up tomorrow. Permanently.'_ **

_Dream sighed deeply before letting the very rare and comforting weight of Đřəåm leaving his conscious settle into his exhausted and battered bones, weary from the weight of all his sins and the weight of all the guilt that came with them. He'd relish in the feeling while it lasted._

_Silently, Dream steps ever closer to the sad, hunched form of Tommy before placing a shaking hand on his shoulder and whispering:_

_"...it's not your time to die."_

_That would have to do. It had to do the trick. No amount of rambled apologies or half-hearted speeches would ever get Tommy to forgive him. Dream was too far gone, possessed or not._

_Dream knew his goal now. Not to get Tommy to forgive him, but to get Tommy to overcome him._

_He just hoped that it would be enough._

.

.

.

Tommy finds himself questioning why it was Dream who said those six words. Why it was Dream who happened upon Tommy almost committing suicide in the nether. Why it was Dream who stopped him from doing so.

Dream was the villain. He wasn't supposed to care.

Dream was the tyrant. He wasn't supposed to find him.

Dream was the monster. He wasn't supposed to sound so _human._

So why did he care? Why was the the one who found Tommy, instead of Techno or Phil? Why did Dream sound so _earnest?_

To this day, Tommy still doesn't know. 

He glanced back at his cellmate, who was hunched over the small cauldron of water with his head hung low. Tommy furrowed his eyebrows, analyzing the person who had caused him so much pain, yet at the same time saved him from even more pain. 

Tommy couldn't figure Dream out. One moment, he's ruthless and cold, making sure that the server in broken into bits and pieces for him to control. The next moment Dream's seemingly backtracking and trying to keep the SMP together. It was like the man was split down the middle, two sides fighting for the right to be in control. 

And it seemed as if one side had been winning for a long, long time.

Tommy's heart suddenly felt uncomfortably heavy as he stared at the sizzling sea of orange in front of him, the last remnants of his memory fading from the forefront of his mind.

Tommy was always someone to jump to conclusions, someone with the mentality to take action now, and contemplate later. Never observant, always opting for rolling with the punches instead of avoiding them.

Was that his downfall, too? Was that why he always saw too little, knew too little, felt too little? 

The reprectutions of his actions were always an afterthought. The damage, the impact, and the consequences of Tommy's stunts were always something he never had found much concern for. Was that what got him into this mess in the first place? Was that what caused his whole world to eventually crumble around him?

A small part of him screamed _'Yes! Yes, this is exactly what it is! Dream isn't the only one to blame for all that has happened in the SMP! He's not the only one at fault!'_

...but wait, that isn't right... it goes against every instinct in Tommy's body. Ever since the election, ever since Dream became two-faced and manipulative, Tommy had drilled into his brain the belief that Dream was not the person he once was. That Dream was a monster, and the cause of everyone's misfortune on the SMP. Now these black and white lines he had set for himself were becoming a mess of blurred, misty gray, smudging his conception and morality. 

Tommy didn't like it, not one bit.

The world was supposed to be black and white. Dream was supposed to be the threat, now contained and taken care of. Tommy was supposed to live out the rest of his days freely, yet here he was stuck in an obsidian box with a man who smudges the black and white hues of Tommy's world the longer he spend time with him. It's frustrating, and Tommy hates it.

_"This is all Dream's fault..."_

~~So why doesn't he believe it anymore?~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna regret screwing up my update schedule bUt oH WeLL–


End file.
